What If There Is No Eternal Life?
by mana massacre
Summary: Seize the Day A7x to the story of Reika. It takes place before and during her ritual, and how she copes with losing Kaname, and bearing the pain of loss.


_Seize the day, or die regretting the time you lost  
__It's empty and cold without you here, too many people to ache over...  
__I see my vision blur, I feel my memories fade with time  
__But I'm too young to worry; the streets we travel on will undergo our same lost past._

"Mommy! Daddy!"

"Where is he...?"

"Have you seen him...? My husband..."

"Yuu, don't go! Don't leave me..."

"Brother! I'm here! I'll be with you soon..."

"Oh God... I'm gonna die... I'm gonna die... Oh God..."

She snapped back to the mansion in which she was trapped immediately. The tattoos had just covered her body, and yet she was already trapped within this hellish realm of nightmares. What would happen once she had lost her ability to wake up?

And just a while ago, she found out he was alive...

So why was she even here?

_I found you here, now please just stay for a while, I can move on with you around.  
__I hand you my mortal life, but will it be forever?  
__I'd do anything for a smile, holding you till our time is gone.  
__We both know the day will come but I don't wanna leave you..._

She curled up in a ball, and her only source of warmth in this freezing mansion were the thin layers of kimonos wrapped around her frail body. It was getting harder and harder to throw off thoughts of suicide. Once in a while she would glance at the maiden's stakes. Oh, how easy it would be to just...

But she couldn't. And she wouldn't. Because Kaname was still alive.

And that was the strand of hope she clung to dearly. For the memories. For the times that will soon surrender to the realm of eternal slumber. For love. And love was Kaname.

_I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but I'm too young to worry.  
__A memory, a melody, or just one picture...  
__Seize the day or die regretting the time you lost.  
__It's empty and cold without you here, too many people to ache over._

**Oh God, not this dream again... Please...**

**Any other one. Please.**

"Hey there, Reika!"

"Hello, Kaname! I haven't seen you in forev--"

And he cut her off by picking her up off of the ground, swinging her around as if she was a little girl. And then he embraced her.

Softly.

Gently.

Carefully.

**Kaname, listen to me!** She shouted. But his expression didn't change at all. It was frozen in a stiff, unnatural smile as she heard words coming out of her mouth. Words that were once hers, but no longer.

"I'll wait for you here!"

**No, no, no... Kaname, don't go!** She reached out to grab the boy's wrist as it dissolved into a wisp of blue flame. Reika cried as the flame stung her hand, sticking onto her flawless, white skin...

A blue snake formed.

Then a holly flower.

And another snake.

All the way up to her arm.

_Newborn life, replacing all of us, changing this fable we live in.  
__We're no longer needed here, so where do we go?  
__Will you take a journey tonight, follow me past the walls of death?  
__But, love, what if there is no eternal life?_

A young woman sobbed, kneeling over a over-turned car.

"Yuu... I'm sorry... Please, please, tell me you're..."

Her quiet sobs turned into long weeps. Then into groans of pain. Then into wails. It was a terrifying noise, almost like a siren. There was so much that Reika, standing far away but not far enough to avoid seeing this horrible scene, would give to escape from this pain, this pain of the holly. It was the fact that this young woman, whoever she was, that was mourning over this "Yuu" knew that indeed, he was gone for good, but still she cried out his name, once more, just once more... Hoping that the dark lord of the underworld would take pity on her. Grant her back her lover. And there she was, unable to do anything about it. He was gone, and that was the end of his life.

The beginning of her painful demise.

_I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but I'm too young to worry.  
__A memory, a melody, or just one picture...  
__Seize the day or die regretting the time you lost.  
__It's empty and cold without you here, too many people to ache over._

"Daddy!" A soft, childish voice cried out, cracking slightly as she called out again, her voice turning more and more high-pitched. "Oh, please, daddy, wake up!"

Reika took a step closer to understand what was going on. There was a young man, not much older than herself, lying there on the ground. Dark liquid trickled out from underneath his oddly-bent neck, yet his eyes were still wide open.

The child began to cry. It was light at first, then increased into screams as she flung her body onto the man. "I'm sorry, daddy, I'm so sorry... I never should have asked..."

Images began to flash through Reika's mind. Images she never saw before.

"Who would be there to take care of me and mommy...?"

The girl pranced alongside of her late father, and both wore a smile on their faces. Her father was carrying a sack, and she helped him drag it into her house, where her mother was. They were so happy...

"Who would be there to help me when I've fallen?"

The man picked her up as she sniffled, her cheeks stained with dried tears. He gave her a soft kiss on her forehead as she began to cry again, and Reika saw a wide, large cut on her knee that was gushing blood. The girl leaned against her father, who cradled her so lovingly...

"Daddy... wake up..."

The man ran down a few stairs rather quickly, as the daughter stood behind, standing on her toes as she looked down to her father. There was a sound of a crash, and she froze there. When she found him, he was limp and cold, and pale.

Clutching a child's ball tightly to his chest.

**PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO SEE... ANYMORE...**

_Trials in life, questions of us existing here, don't wanna die alone without you here.  
__Please tell me what we have is real... So what if I never hold you?  
__Or kiss your lips again? So, I never wanna leave you...  
__And the memories for us to see. I beg, please don't leave me._

Lower.

And lower.

And lower.

Kaname... it's so cold here... Where'd you go?

Time has flown by since Reika had first been tattooed.

It seemed only yesterday that she was brought into the shrine by Yashuu, and greeted warmly by Amane and the handmaidens.

"I... Am I ready...?"

You have broken the Mirror of Loss, severing all ties. You have been tattooed. You are ready.

Yashuu pulled on the lever again, and the cage-like elevator passed by another Torii Gate.

**Oh, God... Once I go past the last gate... Kaname...**

_Silence, you lost me, no chance for one more day.  
__Silence, you lost me, no chance for one more day.  
__I stand here alone...__Falling away from you, no chance to get back home._

Amane, Hisame, Shigure and Minamo stood at Reika's limbs, chisel and stake in hand.

Prepared for the final ritual that must be performed.

Never once has Amane smiled at Reika.

Never once has Hisame struck one of her following handmaidens with the back of her stake.

Never once has Minamo nervously chewed at a loose strand in her hair.

Never once has Shigure's emotionless expression flicker.

And never one has Kaname left Reika's troubled, cloudy mind.

The four girls knelt, placing the tip of the stake to Reika's hand.

Reika winced, the ones in her palm already cutting into her skin with their strange sharpness.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

The stakes sank into her skin. Deep, but not deep enough. That hurt the most.

Again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Reika was pinned to the ground. As her eyes began to close, as her conciousness began to slip away as quickly as the handmaidens slipped out of the Chamber of Thorns.

And she saw Kaname, kneeling over her, stroking her hair.

He was so close... She could even feel his warmth against her... And then, as mysteriously as he appeared, he was gone.

Just knowing that he wasn't going to be here with her anymore gave her the strength she needed all along to let go.


End file.
